Chapter 3 - The Midnight Knock
Our apartment was small, cozy, and smelled faintly of lavender laundry detergent and the vanilla candles Ivy liked to burn in her bedroom. It was the exact opposite of the grand ballroom we had fled two hours earlier, and to me, it felt like a sanctuary.
We had tucked Ivy into her bed, watching her drift off to sleep almost instantly, exhausted by the trauma of the night. Daniel and I sat in the small living room, the single floor lamp casting long shadows across the worn fabric of our couch. Neither of us had changed out of our wedding attire; Daniel still wore his suit jacket, and my white lace dress was crumpled around my knees.
"They're going to try to retaliate," I said quietly, breaking the silence as I stared at the cold coffee mug in my hands. "Henry doesn't lose control like that unless he's terrified of what we know. He threatened to cut you off from the firm, but... Daniel, what did he mean by the shares?"
Daniel rubbed the back of his neck, staring down at his wedding ring. "When my grandfather passed away five years ago, he left a controlling block of shares in Linwood Engineering directly to me, independent of my parents' estate trust. Henry and Veronica have been trying to force me to sign those shares over to the family board for years."
My breath hitched. "That's why they hated me. It wasn't just because I was a single mother. It was because those shares give you leverage over their entire corporate empire, and they couldn't control you through me."
"They thought if they chipped away at our confidence long enough—if they made Ivy feel small enough—I would eventually cave just to keep the peace," Daniel said, his jaw tightening. "They never expected me to walk away."
Before I could answer, a sharp, urgent rapping echoed from our front door.
We both froze.
It wasn't a polite knock. It was the heavy, rhythmic pounding of someone accustomed to demanding immediate entry.
"Are we expecting anyone?" I whispered, my heart skipping a beat.
"No," Daniel said, standing up slowly and smoothing the front of his trousers. "Stay here."
He walked cautiously across the small living room and pulled the door open.
Standing in the dim hallway wasn't Henry or Veronica. It was Marcus Vance, senior legal counsel for Linwood Engineering and the one man outside the family who knew every single skeleton buried in the corporate vault.
Marcus looked pale, his expensive trench coat soaked from a light drizzle outside, holding a thick manila envelope under his arm.
"Marcus?" Daniel frowned, blocking the doorway. "What are you doing here at midnight?"
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"I was at the wedding, Daniel," Marcus said, his voice breathless and frantic. "I saw what happened. And before your father locks down the company servers tomorrow morning, there is something you need to see."
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